The other day I was browsing through my old recipe box and came across a soup recipe that was given to me years ago by a sweet elderly lady at our church. Immediately I remembered how delicious it was and I wanted to make it again. Only problem was I didn’t have the “secret” ingredient in my pantry that gives it so much flavor. After a trip to the grocery store I was all set to make a huge batch of Chicken Vegetable Soup!

I made a few change like using chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs, rutabagas instead of potatoes, added a couple of leeks and since I didn’t read the recipe correctly I only had one bag of frozen mixed vegetables instead of two. However, I didn’t change the secret ingredient that gives this soup so much flavor – Low Sodium V8 juice! Have you ever used it in soup? It adds so much flavor not to mention tons of nutrients.

3. Stir in the frozen mixed vegetables and continue to simmer until vegetables are cooked. If soup is a little thick add the additional cup of broth. Remove bay leaf, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste and serve.

This looks great. I’ve used V8 juice in soup for a long time – taught by my mother in law! Yesterday I made a big pot of beef vegetable soup (hubby LOVES beef and I almost never use it anymore so I decided to throw him a bone!). I use a combination of V8 and Kitchen Basics beef broth, and it’s delicious. I will definitely try this one. Also – I’ll look back and see which soup recipe I was going to send you and get on it!

You’ve caused me to take a walk down memory lane……..when we got married in 1977, we had very little money for eating out and I had zero skills in the kitchen. Somewhere I found a recipe the simplest soup in the world and it became one of our staples to this very day. Brown 1 lb ground beef in a dutch oven, throw in a bag of mixed vegetables, a 48 oz can of V-8 juice and a packet of Lipton Onion Soup Mix. Heat through and simmer until you are ready to eat!!! It is delicious! And one of those that is better on day two than day one. It provided many a healthy meal for us when we couldn’t afford much else.

Tami says:

Sharon thank you for sharing your story. You know we have so many similarities in that we married young, we got married in 1979 and had little money and a tight budget too. That soup recipe sounds delicious and I am going to have to give it a try. Soup is a great way to stretch the food budget.

Tami says:

I think it would be done in about 3-4 hours on high depending on how hot your slow cooker is. I would still saute the vegetables as the recipe states as I think it adds a lot of flavor and then the rutabagas need to cook until soft which will take a couple of hours or so in the slow cooker.

The original recipe for my hamburger soup called for V-8 (one of those huge cans of it), but I stopped using it because of the high sodium. I’ll have to try it with the low sodium. I do like the taste of V8 but almost never buy it. Still remember their advertisements, “I could’a had a V-8!”